Journal | Blue & White Company

Christmas Message…

22nd December

We wish you a Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years! ? From everyone on the Blue & White Company Team ? We will be back on Wednesday 3rd January 2019

The Sumptuous Marriage of Blue and Gold

5th December

For centuries blue and gold have been married together in art. It is difficult to ascertain why artists choose certain colours for their compositions, we can only infer their reasons. Examples of these two colours being used together can be traced back to the Byzantine period, which spanned several centuries between c.330-1453. Artworks in this...

Delftware Characters

15th November

In the mid sixteenth century the Eighty Years War took place, which had a big impact on art making and buying. When the citizens of the Netherlands revolted against Spanish rule under King Philip of Spain, taking back their independence, the result was the dissolution of the powerful Royal court. Protestantism became the dominant religion,...

botanical art, botanical artists, butterfly, David Attenborough, insects, Maria Sibylla Merian, printmaking, vellum, watercolour

A Love of Bugs: Maria Sibylla Merian, Botanical Artist and Pioneering Scientist

14th October

Maria Sibylla Merian was born in 1647 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her father Matthäus Merian (the Elder) was a well known engraver and publisher, who ran a flourishing publishing shop in Frankfurt. He died when Maria was three, but the shop continued to be run by other family members. There was a great deal of work going...

Bacchus, Mercury and the Graces, Palazzo Ducale, Renaissance, Save Venice, The Origin of the Milky Way, Tintoretto, ultramarine, Venice, Venus and Ariadne

500 Years of Tintoretto

28th September

This year marks the 500th anniversary of Jacopo Tintoretto’s birth, an artist who is one of Venice’s most prolific painters. Save Venice has funded the restoration of many paintings by the cherished Tintoretto, who has more than seven hundred paintings all over the city. This is an American and Venetian non-profit organisation, which over the decades been...

A Young Woman seated at a Virginal, A Young Woman standing at a Virginal, Guitar, Jotter pad, Lute, Music in art, musicians, Vermeer

Vermeer & Music in Art: A Portable Pharmacy for the Soul…

29th August

Music permeated life in seventeenth century Delft, as well as in other European countries. It was common practice for music to be performed, by women especially, but also by men, as a way of entertaining guests and others in the room. Music could be heard inside homes, outside by street performers and at special events...

Creative Conversations…

20th August

Since before the launch of the Blue & White Company, back in November 2017, we were keen to find a way to support emerging artists and creative conversations in a local capacity. As a small group of artists and makers ourselves, we appreciate how positive it can be to keep doors open to learning and...

Blue jeans, Denim, Denim blue, Dye, Indigo, Levi, Levi Strauss

Denim : The Story of Blue Jeans

31st July

Denim is one of the most widely used fabrics in the world and denim jeans are the most popular indigo-dyed garment produced today – they have been for decades. Indigo dye is the dyestuff in denim that creates its distinctive deep blue colour. The word indigo originally comes from the Greek word ‘indikón’, later ‘indicum’...

Nordic Summer Living with YCB Magazine

24th July

Today, the Blue & White Company is featured in the wonderful YCB Magazine in their Lifestyle and Woman & Home section. It was huge fun working with the great team at YCB and we were very happy to share our love of blue and white, as always! The products selected by the Editor in...

Algae, Anna Atkins, Cyanotype, Female photographer, Photography, Plants, Prussian blue, Royal Society, Seaweed

Anna Atkins: The first female photographer

1st July

“Looking at Atkins’ book today, what is most striking is not the outlines of the algae, however beautifully and delicately they crawl across the pages; it is the glorious depth of the Prussian blue backdrop to the images.’ Photography has always been on the cusp between science and art. Someone like Anna Atkins has...